maumg@warwick.ac.uk (Pop Mobility Freak) (04/23/91)
Dear Users,
PlaceIt 1.10 has just been finished. I have at last added the facility
to display a picture behind the backdrop. Before I hear you all shout where
has my memory gone let me explain. Two display methods are available; centred
and tiled. I think the names are rather self explanatory but for those of you
who cannot work out what I am getting it (are you sure you do not own an
Ameoba) centred puts a sprite in the middle of the background and tiled tiles
the background with the sprite. So if you are short of memory then simply use
a small sprite tiled all over the background. You can define the sprite in any
mode with any palette (I suggest you give the sprite a palette if not in a 256
colour mode because ColourTrans assumes the default palette for the mode
not the default desktop palette for the mode which will result in your sprite
looking wrong if you create it with Paint and do not give it a palette) so if
you only need two colours use a mode 0 sprite (18 if you have a multisync and
design the sprite to use the extra resolution), 4 colours a mode 8/19 sprite
and so on. I personally use a nice mode 0 sprite I have of some tigers
which only uses up 13K.
This version of PlaceIt needs the Message Trans module to run but I cannot
provide that as I would need a licence from Acorn and I am not prepared to
spend money to let others use my program (boy ain't I a skinflint. But the
MessageTrans is provided by a lot of new applications such as version 2 of
the printer drivers (where I got it from) and Impression Junior (so I am
told).
The new version has been put on the info server at Newcastle with the name
placeit and the last version before I started using MessageTrans (1.08) is
available as placeit_nomes.
TTFN
PMF
P.S. If anyone designs some nice tiles for backdrops I would be interested in
seeing them. So if at all possible could you mail them to me at
pmf@uk.ac.warwick.cs or maumg@uk.ac.warwick.cu if the former doesn't work.
I will include the best of them in a future release of PlaceIt (as a separate
file) so here is your chance of fame (albeit rather limited).